Going Underground in Guilin

June 15, 2010

After checking into our Guilin hotel in Southeast China near Vietnam, we hired a taxi and visited Reed Flute Cave (Ludi Cave), which is in Northwest Guilin.

Photo by Lloyd Lofthouse

Reed Flute Cave was named during the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 AD) due to reeds (Ludi Cao) growing near the cave’s entrance, which are still used to make flutes.

Photo by Lloyd Lofthouse

There are historical stone ink inscriptions inside the cave dated to 792 AD.

Lucky Turtle Photo taken by Lloyd Lofthouse

Millions have walked these paved pathways. Reed Flute Cave has been an attraction for over a thousand years and the tour lasts about an hour.

Photo by Lloyd Lofthouse

During Times of war, the local people would hide in the cave. One grotto, the Crystal Palace of the Dragon King, could hold a thousand people.

Photo by Lloyd Lofthouse

Crown Cave was the second underground attraction, but it was late and the next day we were on our way to the Li River.

______________

Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of The Concubine Saga. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.

Subscribe to “iLook China”!
Sign up for an E-mail Subscription at the top of this page, or click on the “Following” tab in the WordPress toolbar at the top of the screen.

About iLook China

Leave a Comment » | China, Chinese history, environment, tourism | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

China’s Goal to Clean Dirty Coal

June 15, 2010

Bill Chameides writes in the Huffington Post about China’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gasses by 40 to 45 percent by 2020.  His goes into detail how the Chinese plan to accomplish this.

Since 70% of China’s electricity comes from thousands of coal burning power plants,  Chameides expresses doubts that China will be able to meet these lofty goals.  However, I disagree.  When you discover the downside of China’s coal burning power plants, it is obvious there is no choice but to clean up.

China’s one-party system has demonstrated the ability to get things done quickly and mistakes are made but so are course corrections.  I witnessed China’s ability to get things done in Shanghai. We were staying in what was once the French concession. The stately mansions that had housed wealthy French families and servants had been converted to communal multi-family homes still surrounded by tall walls.  When we went to sleep, the walls were there. In the morning, they were gone. 

An army of workers arrived at night, took down the walls and trucked out the debris without making enough noise to wake people.

Although I disagree with Chameides conclusion, his piece is worth reading.

See Electricity is the Key

_______________________

Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning My Splendid Concubine and writes The Soulful Veteran and Crazy Normal.

Sign up for an RSS Feed for iLook China

Leave a Comment » | business, China, economy, environment | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Oil Greases a Shift in Global Power

June 6, 2010

Recently, I have written posts about China’s hunger for oil and energy. I also wrote a series about China’s need for electricity to build a middle class in rural China.

The DVB reported that the China National Petroleum Corporation has started building a trans-Burma crude oil pipeline to carry an estimated 240,000 barrels a day from Burma’s west coast to Kunming, the capital of China’s Southwestern Yunnan province.

China's Yunnan Province in green

While some may criticize China for working with a repressive government like Burma, it makes sense that China is doing this. After all, China has no choice but to do what it can to improve the lives of 750 million rural Chinese. To achieve this, they are working globally to provide China’s people with a higher standard of living while struggling to clean up an environment that is heavily polluted.

All one has to do is look at America’s history with dictators to see the dirty deeds that the US did in the national interest.  China has a “national interest” too and now they have the money to make things happen, as the US has for the last six decades.

_____________________

Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning novels My Splendid Concubine and Our Hart. He also Blogs at The Soulful Veteran and Crazy Normal.

Sign up for an RSS Feed for iLook China

1 Comment | business, China, Chinese middle class, environment, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Move Over America, the BRIC is Coming

June 6, 2010

McCombs Today says that during 2001, Goldman Sachs predicted Brazil, Russia, India and China (known as the BRIC) would dominate global economic markets in the 21st century. China, for one, has set goals to clean their environment, build a colony on the moon and technologically match the US military.  It helps that China has become America’s banker or should I say landlord.

History demonstrates that powerful nations often act arrogant and bully others. America was no different after World War II when much of Europe and Asia’s infrastructure and industrial capacity had been destroyed.  For about five decades after the war, the U.S. was the best source of manufacturing which grew a middle class who lived better than most kings and emperors from earlier times. From such riches came an attitude that American democracy and capitalism was superior to any other system.

Goldman predicts by 2035, China will be the world’s largest economy and India will be tied with America for second place.  This prediction is because 42 percent of the world’s population lives in the BRIC countries, which have 22 percent of the world’s land mass and 24 percent of global gross domestic product.

Soon, other nations will listen carefully When China Speaks

______________

Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

2 Comments | America, China, economy, environment | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Bringing the Pollution Home

June 5, 2010

Business Insider reports that China may soon restrict exports for rare-earth minerals that are used in hybrid car batteries, computers, cell phones, flat screen monitors and high tech weapons that the US military depends on to fight wars around the globe.

It’s about time that the United States and other countries that uses these rare earth metals builds their own refining capability.  Until now, they have bought from China, the only supplier on the planet.  However, China has announced plans to curb pollution and greenhouse emissions dramatically. One strategy is to offer huge rebates to Chinese who buy plug-in hybrids or all electric vehicles meaning China will be using what they refine.

Recently, China also expressed concerns about some of the minerals crucial to green technologies since extracting and refining them pollutes and causes serious damage to China’s environment. That means the US and other countries will have to build refining capabilities to extract and refine rare-earth metals at home instead of in China’s back yard.

See Cornering the Plug-In Hybrid all Electric Car

_____________________

Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning novels My Splendid Concubine and Our Hart. He also Blogs at The Soulful Veteran and Crazy Normal.

Sign up for an RSS Feed for iLook China

Leave a Comment » | China, economy, environment, politics | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »